Economist Wahiduddin Mahmud criticises proposed budget

Renowned economist Professor Wahiduddin Mahmud said it is ridiculous that the low-income people have been kept under income tax in black and white avoiding any effective measures to tackle the tax dodging of tens of thousands of middle class and rich people and stop the corruption of the tax administration.

First, the government has to separate the amount of zero tax and minimum income amount of tax to fix the rate of income tax.

Professor Wahiduddin Mahmud made his post-budget reaction on a Facebook post on Friday.

He wrote, “In the proposed budget, tax-free lowest income has been proposed unchanged at Tk 3 lakh despite a skyrocket of the daily necessaries.”

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday unveiled the Tk 678,064-crore national budget for the financial year 2022-2023 with a  special focus on economic recovery from uncertainties caused by Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.